SHADOW Minister Catherine McKinnell has pledged justice for the Feversham Special School sex abuse victims.

SHADOW Minister Catherine McKinnell has pledged justice for the Feversham Special School sex abuse victims.

The Newcastle North Labour MP spoke of her anger after we revealed how Kevin Brown and John Leslie Duncan carried out horrifying attacks on youngsters at the school, owned by the charity Mind.

Warnings from staff, and even one victim, went unheeded, the police were never involved, and the pair were allowed to continue their depraved attacks at the school, in Walbottle, Newcastle, in the 80s.

The Shadow Minister for Children and Young Families, said: We need to get to the truth of this appalling case, and I am currently liaising with the authorities on how best to support this.

“I have met with former staff at the school and have been contacted by a number of victims and former residents, as well as their families.

“I am aware there may be ongoing criminal and legal proceedings, but I will do all I can to ensure the victims of this appalling crime get justice and we learn the lessons so this can never happen again.”

Brown, 55, of Inchberry Close, Benwell, Newcastle, was jailed for eight years last month.

The prosecution came 10 years after John Leslie Duncan was jailed for near identical abuse at the school.

It was only when Operation Rose, the nationwide inquiry into paedophiles was launched in 1999 the warnings were revisited.

Today Newcastle City Council confirmed it will not investigate the abuse at the school. A spokesman said: “Feversham Special School was never run by the city council but by the charity Mind. Any allegations of abuse emerging from the school would have been a matter for the police. The police conducted Operation Rose, which we as a council fully supported, and a number of prosecutions were brought as a result. Had there been any reason for concerns about the school, we would have shared those with police.”

The school later closed and Paul Farmer, Mind chief executive, said: “Mind was the custodian trustee of the property from which the school was run and was not involved with the day-to-day running of the school.

Mind is no longer involved with any residential educational establishments.”